


Number One (A Redky One Shot)

by thirteen_beaches



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, ashlyn is here for it all, red thinks he isnt good enough, ricky doesn't know whats up wth his best friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21722413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thirteen_beaches/pseuds/thirteen_beaches
Summary: Red thinks if he distances himself from Ricky, he wouldn't notice. What? It's not like Ricky even deserved a friend like him.
Relationships: Big Red & Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Big Red/Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 74





	Number One (A Redky One Shot)

Staring up at the ceiling, the light of the streetlight still filtering in through the window that stood at level with the street, Big Red watching it move as cars passed by every so often. He should have been asleep hours ago, but something in him was keeping him awake. And he knew exactly what it was.

_“Hey Ash?” Red asked, walking up to Ashlyn who just said goodbye to Bianca._

_“Yeah, Red?” she said, turning around to look at him, tilting her head._

_“Have, have you seen Ricky around?” he asked curiously, eyes flitting around the room. “I got up to dance with you guys and Carlos and he wasn’t anywhere. He’s my ride home.”_

_Ashlyn looked him over, a weird, almost knowing expression on her face. She sighed, looking over her shoulder at the door. Red furrowed his eyebrows, confusion about her hesitation filling in him._

_“He, he left,” she muttered, looking at him sadly. “With Gina.”_

_Red narrowed his eyes, sure that he had just heard her wrong, or Ricky was pranking him and Ashlyn was in on it, trying to get a reaction out of him. But soon, the crease on his forehead smoothened, when he saw her purse her lips, and he knew. She was telling the truth._

_“O-Oh,” is all he mumbled. He took a shaky step back, nodding to himself. Ashlyn sighed, wrapping an arm around him shoulder, pulling him close._

_“I’m sorry,” she said, but Red just let out a short, emotionless laugh._

_“Why?” he asked sadly. “I kinda knew that would happen.”_

Red sighed, turning over in his bed, clinging his pillow. He had always wondered how on earth someone like him had ended up with a friend as cool as Ricky Bowen. Ricky Bowen who was skated like a pro, played guitar like he was born with the talent, could even sing like a dream, and had landed himself the lead in a musical without knowing a thing about them. Ricky Bowen who still came to talk to him and nerd out about video games, watch videos with him, teach him cool skating tricks. Ricky Bowen who let his problems out for Red to see and caught the ones Red himself let out. Ricky Bowen who had always been out of his league in every category, and he still wanted him as a friend.

But Big Red also wasn’t stupid, like he seemed at times. He could tell how what he said seemed to annoy Ricky most of the time, and was the wrong thing to be said in that situation. He knew how he wasn’t the first person Ricky would go to if he needed anything, that was Nini. He couldn’t help but feel Ricky want to find a way to leave or be alone as soon as possible when he was around him.

 _Okay, if he kept listing this stuff out he would not stop crying,_ Red told himself, sniffing as he wiped away his tears that had begun to soak his pillowcase.

 _What if he started to distance himself from Ricky,_ his mind prodded, the thought having come from almost nowhere. Red sat up, leaning against his headboard.

 _That literally made no sense,_ he chided himself. _Ricky was his best friend, his number one. He couldn’t just distance himself from him because he was insecure and stupid._

 _But he wasn’t Ricky’s number one. And so far, with all the Nini drama and chasing to get her back, he didn’t need Red,_ a small part of him said when everything went quiet. Red’s eyes went wide, and he let out a shaky breath, confirming it to himself. He didn’t like what he was trying to do, but at that moment he needed to protect himself more than anything.

It wasn’t like Ricky would even notice he was drifting.

*

**5 days later**

“Hey there man!”

Red looked up as he stared at his locker, his breath cutting short as he recognised the voice that was coming. He shut his locker, grasping his skateboard lightly as he turned to look at Ricky, who was smiling at him with his characteristic charm.

“Hey Ricky,” Red muttered, flashing a small smile. To him, Ricky didn’t seem to notice and walked ahead, starting to talk. But Red stood there, looking the other way.

“Red?” Ricky asked when he noticed when he wasn’t by his side, looking back to where he stood. “You’re coming right?”

“Um,” Red muttered, looking back frantically before looking in Ricky’s direction, not meeting his eyes. “I, I can’t. Homework, chores, you know,” he mumbled, starting to walk away.

“But, it’s Wednesday,” Ricky said quietly, his voice unsure. “We always hit the skatepark together on Wednesday after school,” he said sadly, turning to look at Red. “Even if we have an exam the next day.”

“I, I’m sorry man,” Red muttered, shaking his head. “It’s just, a lot of work,” he said quietly.

“You’ve been bailing on me almost every day now,” Ricky muttered sadly, and Red almost wanted to walk ahead, grab his skateboard and run with him to the skate park. But he had to keep that promise to himself. _Besides, he was probably just asking Red to come because Nini had Spanish class on Wednesday and today’s scene only required Gina and EJ, so Gina was off the table for hanging out._

Red steadied his breath, walking down the hallway. “I’m sorry man,” he mumbled, before making his way home as quick as possible.

Ricky watched Red walk quickly away, feeling that heavy feeling in his gut that he hated with all parts of him. He had felt it before, when he could hear his parents fighting through his bedroom walls, when Nini told him she had moved on and was dating someone else. He had just never expected to feel it around Red.

 _Was it just him being stupid,_ Ricky thought to himself as he put on his helmet and began to make his way home. _Or was Big Red avoiding him for some reason?_

_But if he was, why? What had happened? What had Ricky done?_

*

“Hey Ash,” Red said, holding up the phone as Ashlyn waved back at him through the camera.

“How are you doing, bud?” she said softly, and Red sighed, looking down.

“I don’t know,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “I made a decision to myself the night of homecoming, and it’s been harder than I thought keeping up with it.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. Red sighed, looking up at the ceiling, lying on his bed as he held his phone up.

“I decided to start distancing myself from Ricky,” he said.

“You what?!” Ashlyn said loudly, before clapping a hand over her mouth. “You what?” she asked again, her voice at a lower pitch.

Red sighed. “I don’t know! I was just up all night thinking, and it just hurts Ash,” he said, his voice cracking a bit. “It hurts to know that I’m not one of the first people in his life, even if that sounds insane!” he said with a sad laugh. “While, to me, I would trust him with everything first.”

“I get that,” Ashlyn said softly, her words comforting. “But isolating yourself? I don’t think that’s the solution.”

“Well, it’s working out so far,” Red said, trying to put a smile on his face. But Ashlyn stared at him through the camera.

“Is it?” she asked plainly. Red sighed, shaking his head.

“At this point, I need it to,” he said sadly, and Ashlyn sighed.

“Well, I’m here for you if you ever need to talk, okay?” she said, and red smiled.

“Thanks Ash,” he said, bringing the phone closer. “You’re the best Ash,” he whispered.

“Love you,” Ashlyn whispered, blowing kisses as Red cut the call.

_God, he hoped it would work, because this ‘distancing’ thing might end up killing him._

*

Whatever Red was doing, it was killing Ricky.

After rehearsal was done that day, Ricky noticed Red shoulder his bag and leave immediately, without even a glance toward him. He felt his heart sink, and he blinked away tears as he headed over to Ashlyn.

“Ash?” he asked quietly, and Ashlyn looked up from her script, pushing her glasses back.

“What’s up, Ricky?” she asked with a bright smile that softened when she saw the sad look in his eyes. “Is everything okay?”

“Can, can we talk outside?” he asked, his voice cracking. Ashlyn nodded, gathering her stuff and following Ricky outside, who stood by the lockers, sniffing.

“What’s going on?” she asked, looking at him in concern.

Ricky sniffed, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. “Do you know if Big Red is avoiding me?”

As soon as he asked that, Ashlyn’s eyes went wide and she straightened up, looking beyond Ricky to try and avoid his eye. “N-No! Why would you think that?”

Ricky sighed, looking away. “So he is avoiding me,” he mumbled, leaning against the locker. He pushed his hair back, letting out a shaky breath.

Ashlyn sighed, walking close to him, grabbing his arm. “I mean, I know why he’s doing it, and I don’t know. I kinda get him?” she said softly.

Ricky looked up, his eyes brimming with tears. “What?” he gasped. “Why is he doing it? Why is my best friend avoiding me Ash?”

Ashlyn took a deep breath, dropping her hand. “After you left with Gina on Homecoming, Red was looking around for you. And I told him where you were, and his face just dropped. I’ve never seen someone lose hope so fast,” she mumbled the last part to herself.

“What?” Ricky whispered, feeling his heart sink.

Ashlyn nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. “I was video calling him yesterday and he said he was trying to distance himself from you.”

Ricky looked taken aback, leaning back as a tear escaped his eye. Ashlyn reached out to grab his hand, trying to keep his with the conversation.

“Ricky,” she said softly, squeezing his hand. “The reason he said he was doing it was because he felt like he needed to protect himself from getting hurt. Because you were one of the first people in his life, but he didn’t think you thought the same about him.”

“What?” Ricky croaked out, letting a tear roll down his cheek. “He said that?”

Ashlyn nodded, looking at Ricky intently. “That is not true is it?” she asked, and Ricky vehemently shook his head.

“Of course not!” he said indignantly. “Red is literally the most important person to me! I, I can’t imagine my days without him by my side! He is my best friend!” Ricky started to say loudly, his voice cracking on the word ‘friend’.

Ashlyn sniffed, pushing him. “Then tell him, you idiot!” she said, pushing him to the door.

Ricky nodded, quickly putting on his helmet as he skated as fast as he could to Red’s house.

*

Red dumped his bag on the floor, rubbing his eyes that had been dried of tears as he collapsed onto his beanbag, ready to play video games. However, before he put on his headphones, he heard the door open and loud footsteps down the stairs to his room and…

Ricky.

Red set down his headphones, getting up off the beanbag, staring at Ricky, who was panting, tears down his face. “Ricky?” he whispered, and Ricky looked up, taking in a gulp of air.

“I talked to Ash,” Ricky said, his words barely louder than a gasping whisper. “She told m you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Ricky, I,” Red started to say, looking away, but Ricky held out his hand, bouncing on the balls of his heels.

“She told me the reason you were doing it,” he said quietly. “Was because you were protecting yourself from me. Because you thought I didn’t think of you as one of the first people in my life, like you think of me as one of yours.”

Red shrugged, looking down. “I thought if I distanced myself, you wouldn’t notice. Between Gina and Nini and…”

Ricky scoffed, wiping away a tear. “Gina and Nini don’t matter dude!” he said loudly, gesturing wildly. “I, I, I could care less whether they even existed or not!”

“I don’t know it, it just seems you’d rather be with them than me,” red said quietly, scratching the inside of his thumb. “Which is fair, they’re friends who you actually deserve, you know?”

“No! I don’t know!” Ricky said in frustration, looking at Red. “What do you mean when you say they are the friends I deserve?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Red said bitterly. “They are talented, and cool, and they can actually match you in every way, and I’m just useless,” he said sadly.

“That is the furthest thing from the truth,” Ricky said, his voice breaking as he walked up to Red. “I don’t care if you confuse theatre terms neither of us know, or don’t sing. That isn’t why you are my best friend.”

“Why am I your best friend then Ricky?” Red asked sadly, looking up with tears in his eyes.

Ricky looked up at the roof, placing both his hands on Red’s shoulders. “You have been there for me through everything. You always have my back. You always have a place for me to stay when things go to hell at home. You keep me down on Earth when I start talking crazy. You and I are best friends against the world.”

Red looked up slowly, a small smile poking its way on his face. “You don’t get annoyed by everything I say like I think?”

Ricky let out a small, watery laugh, shaking his head. “No, dude. I love it when you say things like that.” His smile fell a bit, looking at Red. “Look, I, I’m not good at talking about how I feel, okay?”

Red nodded, looking down. But Ricky, lifted his chin, making him look him in the eye. “But I need you to remember,” he said. “You are always number one in my life, okay?”

Red smiled, hugging Ricky as tight as he could, tears wetting his sweatshirt. Ricky also cried into his shirt, relieved.

“You’re number one in my life too, Ricky,” Red whispered, and Ricky nodded against his shirt, not letting go for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> this was fast and osfjdkjvlwejfwe


End file.
